I have been making do without an electric grinder for a while now and I have decided the time has come to get one back on the kitchen work surface. I usually make coffee with my aeropress or chemex, and sometimes grind coarsely for cold brew. I don’t have an espresso machine and while I could imagine myself dabbling with the weirder manual and stovetop espresso options out there, I know that I prefer the extraction from pourover so it would never be a Thing.
I am trying to decide between the Fellow Ode v2 and the Baratza Encore ESP. One the one hand I feel I can’t go wrong with a Baratza and the ESP would give me some extra flexibility. On the other hand, the Fellow Ode probably matches my coffee sensibilities perfectly. I can’t really see myself choosing other grinders because I have had a Baratza before in a former life and I know their customer service is amazing. It’s just those burrs on the Fellow Ode v2 that are tempting me. Any thoughts? Gotchas? Steers either way?
I don’t have either grinder (I’m a hand grinder user), so I’m just synthesizing reviews here, but from what I understand, the Ode 2 should be a much “better” option by enthusiast standards for filter coffee. The burrs are very well regarded and supposed to be competitive with SSP burrs which are sort of one of the gold standards in flat burrs.
The Encore ESP is a conical burr grinder that’s espresso capable, so it’s going to produce more fines and have a more full-bodied texture but with less clarity. However! some folks actually prefer that even for filter brewing. (E.g., let’s say you mostly drink dark roasts or you just hate tasting acidity, then high-clarity might actually not be what you’re looking for.)